The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

113 interviewed in ASADA probe

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) has conducted 113 interviews in its investigations into the NRL and AFL since the nation's peak crime-fighting body sought to "harden" the sports industry against crime penetration.

The Australian Crime Commission's (ACC) drugs in sport report released on February 7 warned of widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sport and links to organised crime.

Since then, ASADA's interviews with players, support staff and club administrators have amounted to the equivalent of one per day, each taking between one-and-a-half and eight-and-a-half hours.

Their investigators have also examined more than 50,000 documents.

ASADA chief executive Aurora Andruska provided those figures to a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Thursday and confirmed the investigations still only involved clubs and players in the NRL and AFL.

She said wasn't allowed to discuss how many football clubs were being investigated or how many more interviews ASADA intended to conduct.

ASADA general manager Elen Perdikogiannis said the investigation in NRL club Cronulla was on-going despite player interviews being called off in early May.

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Perdikogiannis advised the hearing that no player had yet received an infraction notice for a drug or doping violation.

The federal government, ASADA and the ACC encountered initial heavy criticism for their handling of the issue from clubs and individuals who complained the report and the extensive nature of the investigations tainted all Australian sportspeople.

However ACC chief executive John Lawler told a separate Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Thursday the commission released its report after carefully considering the issues and briefing the sporting codes.

"In this instance, it was about hardening the industry of Australian sport from increased serious and organised crime penetration," he said.

"People who have exclusively sought arrests and prosecution as a result of the ACC report do not understand the concept of an ACC special intelligence operation."

Addressing the report's findings, Lawler said: "The behaviours of the serious and organised criminals in some instance were not in and of themselves always criminal offences."

"This was the gap and risk we have endeavoured to mitigate."

Lawler also said the sporting codes were a strong part of the solution and were responding.

"This holistic response to the report and others ... is encouraging and will enhance the reputation and standing of Australian sport and the vast majority of Australian sportspeople well into the future," he said.